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Is there anyone NOT starting their LO on rice cereal ?

I am having a hard time with this one. I want the best nutrition for my LO, and just from my personal choice I wanted to feed my 6 month old fruits and veggies as her first foods instead of rice cereal.

Does anybody know about any nutritional facts on rice cereal ? I had heard that it doesn't really provide any nutritional value and it was basically just a "filler ".

Her daycare is almost forcing me to feed it to her.

Is there anything wrong with just feeding her fruits and veggies as her first foods ?

Re: Is there anyone NOT starting their LO on rice cereal ?

There is nothing wrong with using veggies or fruits or meats as your baby's first foods, rather than rice cereal. Rice cereal does have some nutritional value: it provides carbohydrates and some vitamins and minerals. But all those things- and more!- can be obtained from other foods. Iron? Feed the baby some leafy greens, like spinach, or some meat. Carbs? Give her a handful of cheerios and let her practice feeding herself. Fat and protein? Can't get it from cereal. Flavor? Anything will be tastier than rice cereal- and breastfed babies don't need to start with "bland" foods because they'll have been getting tastes of mom's food through her flavorful milk right from the start. All rice cereal really has going for it is that it's cheap, it's easy to prepare, and it gives baby some iron.

Re: Is there anyone NOT starting their LO on rice cereal ?

My DD is 7 months now and not really into solids. I tried a little rice cereal and oatmeal cereal and she's not interested. I'm just going with fruits and veggies now (which she's still not interested in but not refusing as much as the cereal). No biggie if you don't do it.

Re: Is there anyone NOT starting their LO on rice cereal ?

We won't be doing rice cereal this time around at all... there just doesn't seem to be a point in it.. as mommal said, you can get all the nutrition plus from other foods. We used avacado as our starter food with DS1. We did do rice cereal for a little bit, but I had similiar thoughts as yours and decided to do more research and we scrapped it. If you don't want to do rice cereal, then your daycare should have no say in that... IMHO.

FT working momma to a 9/11/10 busy boy and 11/13/12 happy little man.
Also wife to hubs since 8/23/08, bonus momma to H (girl) -99 and G (boy)-03

Re: Is there anyone NOT starting their LO on rice cereal ?

Nothing wrong with it. We NEVER fed our baby anything processed. So rice cereal was out. Since that is what it is. A processed food like substance. Your daycare can't force you to do anything. They work for you. Be firm. They have to respect your choices around how to feed your kid.

Re: Is there anyone NOT starting their LO on rice cereal ?

Yea, you can definitely skip it if you don't want to. I tried oatmeal for a while, but DD got sick of that quick after eating delicious fruits and veggies. I've given rice maybe once - she didn't really like it. Now that she's almost 9 mo, she can eat cheerios, puffs, and bits of bread. All of those things give her the same nutrition as baby cereal, but she likes them a LOT better. Truth is, milk is going to give your DD all the nutrition she needs, and any solids are just for trying things out! So tell daycare to stuff it

Re: Is there anyone NOT starting their LO on rice cereal ?

Neither of my first two kids ever had rice cereal, and #3 won't either when she's old enough for solids. What is the DC's reason for wanting her to have rice cereal? That's just weird to me, even if it is traditional in North America to start with that. There is NO nutritional reason for it, and I would think it just makes their lives more complicated to give it! If it's that they're uncomfortable giving other foods, you could just say that you'll do solids at home for now...

Re: Is there anyone NOT starting their LO on rice cereal ?

I did not want to do rice cereal so we didn't. My LO is 6 months this Saturday and up until yesterday exclusively BF. Hubby was eating a banana and LO would not stop! I mean she kept on reaching and crying for it, so finally he bit off about 2-3 inch piece and gave it to her. I was sitting there eating my lunch. I picked it up and was going to toss it, I was mad but again she's reaching fussing. I offered it to her and right to the mouth!! She started sucking on it and swallowing!! I never imagined it would happen this way....I don't know what I imagined. I was so happy she liked it, I let her play and make a darn good mess, what's life if you can't get messy? All in all she probably had less then a teaspoon, but she had fun! Today I let her suck on my honey crisp Apple. She loved that too. I'm not sure if what I'm doing is okay but she's happy, nursing like its going out of style and happily playing with food. No cereal for us, she's a big girl now lol

First time mommy

I think I'm doing really well. Babies are amazing little creatures and every moment with her is a gift to me.

I'm not political but don't mess with my baby or her meal!

EBF <3 5 months old now
Co-sharing sleep <3
BLS when she gives us a thumbs up
NIP, and she'll wean when she's ready

Re: Is there anyone NOT starting their LO on rice cereal ?

I've had 3 babies, none of which have ever or will ever eat rice cereal. My logic is that what did people do in the days before packaged rice cereal? They gave their babies real foods.

I just wait until they are ready and then give them bits of foods that we are eating (avoiding the allergens, making sure its not chokable) and then they pick it up with their fingers and eat it. Easy!